Oral Presentation Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2017

DESMOND: Self-management planning is the goal (#124)

Kylie Mahony 1 , Sophie McGough 1 , Natasha Watson 1 , Sue Stockdale 1 , Diane Ledger 1 , Sheryl Moore 1 , Helen Mitchell 1 , Deborah Schofield 1 , Timothy Skinner 2
  1. Diabetes WA, Subiaco, WA, Australia
  2. School of Psychological and Clinical Sciences, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia

Introduction

DESMOND (Diabetes Self-Management for the Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed) is the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) endorsed one day structured self-management education program designed to support people with type 2 diabetes.

The overall aim of the DESMOND program is to engage people to be empowered and proactive in managing their diabetes and to feel less distressed about living with diabetes. This can only happen when people understand their diabetes, understand the importance of and how to self-manage and believe in their ability to achieve set goals.

Objective

People with type 2 diabetes attending DESMOND programs are supported to develop their own diabetes self-management plan and develop general self-management skills such as goal setting, action planning and problem solving.

Methodology

Standardised tools developed through the NDSS National Evaluation Framework to evaluate DESMOND involve pre-session, post-session, and three-month follow-up evaluations. Participants were asked at post-session to record the goal set at the DESMOND program. At three-month follow-up, participants rated their success in achieving their goal on a 10-point scale, and reported other changes made to self-management behaviour since attending DESMOND.

Results

For the period July 2016 to June 2017, 350 respondents provided 457 goals they set for themselves after attending the DESMOND program. Respondents frequently listed more than one goal and up to three areas where they were aiming to make changes. The majority of goals were around increased physical activity (n=132, 37.7%), diet or food intake (n=103, 29.4%), and weight loss/shape change (n=89, 25.4%). Of those participants with matched post-session and follow-up data, 50% of respondents were ‘successful’ and another 30% were ‘moderately successful’ in achieving their goal. Moreover, goal success was significantly positively correlated with diabetes empowerment (r=.47), and significantly negatively correlated with diabetes distress (r=.62) at three-month follow-up.

Conclusion

The ability to develop self-management skills including goal setting is integral to better health outcomes and can successfully engage people in commencing lifestyle changes.1

  1. Davies M, Heller S, Skinner T, Campbell M, Carey M, Craddock S, et al. Effectiveness of the diabetes education and self-management for ongoing and newly diagnosed (DESMOND) programme for people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes: cluster randomised controlled trial. 2008. BMJ. doi:10.1136/bmj.39474.922025.BE